Saturday, 7 April 2012

Egg-Free Soft Sugar Cookies

Finding egg-free baking recipes that taste good as well is not always easy. So I was super excited when I found an egg-free soft sugar cookie recipe that tasted great! This is the first time I've baked egg-free and had cookie rise (normally they just stay flat) as well so that was cool! I got some Easter cookie cutters last year so it the recipe was perfect to make Easter cookies.

If you're American you'll know what I'm talking about when I say a soft sugar cookie or Lofthouse style cookies; if you aren't just know it is a tasty, soft cookie topped with an obscene amount of frosting (is anything but obscene acceptable anyway?). The cookie itself isn't super sweet but the frosting more than makes up for it. You can find the original recipe on Kids with Food Allergies.

Mix together butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixer until well combined. Add Ener-G mixture and mix until incorporated.

Mix together 2 1/2 cups of flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Alternate mixing in the buttermilk and flour, slowly until combined.

Then slowly add in the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour mixing on low to start (so you don't spray yourself with flour) and speeding up once combined. You could mix this in by hand but if you have a mixer, why?

While you are doing all this your kitchen helper can build a house with ice cube trays, baking powder and Pez dispensers (optional).

Chill well. I'd say how long you need to chill it but I accidentally turned my fridge off so I have no idea since my fridge was not working! You'll want the dough to firm up enough to make cut-outs though so at least an hour.

Once chilled pre-heat your oven to 350F/175C and line a baking sheet with wax/baking paper.

Roll out on a floured surface and cut out into fun shapes. Blondie Boy really liked this part. I covered my dining room table in cling film/plastic wrap and then dusted that with flour to try and help clean up.

Bonus points if you can tell what these shapes are; our cookie cutters were pretty ghetto and didn't work that well. I also shaped some into oval/egg shapes using my hands.

You can sprinkle with sugar now if you aren't a frosting person. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies have risen and are lightly browned.

Let cool and then decorate! I used glitter gel writers for Blondie Boy's cookies. What was supposed to be a chick (but had no beak or feet?) reminded me of the Twitter bird so I couldn't help myself!

For myself and NBH I topped with Betty Crocker frosting (should be white but I had chocolate opening already) and pink sugar. I've just been spreading on a generous amount of frosting as we want the cookies that way the frosting isn't sitting out since it should be refrigerated after opening. You can totally make your own buttercream if you want but we had tons of ready-made in the house.

This recipe makes a LOT of dough. I use some to make the cookies you see here and then baked off another 6 large eggs the next day AND froze a big log of dough for another time. Just roll dough into a log, wrap in plastic wrap/cling film and freeze. You can then cut off cookies and bake from frozen. Just add on 2 minutes cooking time.

If you don't have an egg allergy in your family you can replace the Ener-G with 2 eggs whisked but personally I like these as they are plus it means you can lick the spoon to your heart's content :)

Oh it looks like you had fun! We've abandoned using cookie cutters like the ones you battled with because they are always hard work, metal cutters are the way to go every time! I think they look very cute and your Twitter bird is hilarioius! I love Blondie Boy's face in that photo, he's so pleased with himself! x

Great little helpers! We do not have egg allergies, but do know of some kids that do. I will pass this recipe along to them. They look delish! Thanks so much for sharing them with us at Kids in the Kitchen. :)